100 and Done! (Countries that is...)

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We are back! This last trip brought the total countries visited to 100! It is a crazy milestone. It is difficult, time-consuming and can be (IS) expensive. After I got back from Antarctica in 2007, I started thinking about it. After 2010 I was thinking about it more (as I moved from NY to Georgia) and in 2014 it had become a real goal. Between Angie and I we have been to 109 Countries. We are tied at 100 countries each. We have 9 countries different in our lists. For example, I have been to San Marino. She has not. She has been to Israel. I have not, yet. There has been some fun competition in this area. That's why we had to establish rules. 1.) Must be listed (as a country) with the US State Department 2.) Being in an airport doesn't count. You have to get through immigration somehow and not in a DMZ or a no-mans-land 3.) A passport stamp is not required. I have been to Canada, Paraguay, and Uruguay without getting my passport stamped. There are friendly borders in many places...
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I was going to post a satellite image of McMurdo Sound and the ross sea but the clouds are too thick to make it worthwhile. http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?RossSea

Select 250M resolution, zoom in and crop the image. You will see the channel very clearly the ships are cutting (after the clouds dissipate). The image is updated everyday. I am going to look at the pier this morning. The ODEN may be in. The Polar Sea is planning on being in on the 10th. We have had very strong southerly winds the past few days. This is what everyone is hoping for. The brash ice in the channel is moving out to sea and the possibilities of more of the sea ice breaking and moving out is possible. The sound may clear out this year. I think 1999 was the last year it cleared. Already this year the shipping channel is very clear of brash ice. That means orcas will be swimming right up to town.

I just looked at the helo schedule. I have an early launch over to the Penguin rookery over at cape royds. Shackelton hut is also at royds.

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